Making electrical connections between conductive pads on an electrical component and the conductors on a substrate such as a PCB (Printed Circuit Board) in a high volume manufacturing process typically requires consideration of factors such as: the pitch of the pads on the electrical component, the pitch of the conductors on the PCB and the means of attachment between the PCB and the electrical component.
In the past, when the pitch of the pads and conductors was large enough, elastomer conductors could be used to electrically connect the pads on the electrical component to the conductors on the PCB. However, more recent alignment requirements of pads with smaller pitches (less than 50 mils) have made the use of elastomer connectors impractical. Thus, only a HSC (Heat Seal Connector) or a TAB(Tape Automating Bonding) type connection has been considered practical for satisfying the more stringent requirements.
FIG. 1 illustrates the use of an HSC for electrically connecting conductive runners 10 on a LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) panel 12 to conductive pads 14 on a PCB 16. The pads 14 are coupled to electrical parts (not shown) on the PCB 16 via conductive runners 18.
An HSC 20 is used as the connecting mechanism. The illustrated HSC 20 has conductive runners 22 bonded by heat sealing to the runners 10 on the LCD panel 12, and runners 24 bonded to the pads 14 on the PCB 16.
It would be preferable if an elastomer connector could be used in place of the HSC 20 to connect the LCD panel to the PCB 16, particularly in applications where the LCD panel 12 is used in a front mount display product such as a pager, but the small pitch (and high pin count) would cause alignment problems as discussed previously.